UPDATE: The weather forecast has improved the Juneteenth event will now take place as originally imagined.
The Program portion of this event will take place in the theatre at 6 PM- followed by Dinner and Live Music outside on the lawn.
A limited number of TICKETS for a Reserved Seat PLUS Dinner and a seat on the lawn are available for $15. Call 270.450.4444 or email boxoffice@thecarsonenter.org
General Admission for the program portion is FREE. The meal and a reserved seat on the lawn are not included with General Admission. All are welcome.
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Join your friends, family, and community members for Paducah's 1st Ever community-wide celebration of JUNETEENTH.
The NAACP and The Carson Center and sponsors -the City of Paducah, McCracken County, CSI, Baptist Health, Mercy Health, The Bryant Law Center, and WKMS - are teaming up to launch this inclusive and joyous celebration of Freedom Day - a National Celebration of the anniversary of June 19, 1865, the day enslaved people in Texas learned they were free. Join fellow community members for an inspiring program in the theatre featuring uplifting messages from Paducah Native, Former Dean of Students, and current Chief Equity Officer at Paducah Tilghman Highschool, Shonda Burrus, followed by keynote speaker, Dr. Brandon McCormack, professor of Pan-African studies and Director of the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice at the University of Louisville. Vocal performances by Gabby Copeland and Jaelon Harris.
This family-friendly one-hour program will be followed by a celebratory dinner on the Lawn at The Carson Center with live music by A Different Sound. Your $15 ticket includes a reserved seat in the theatre for the program and a catered boxed BBQ dinner with a non-alcoholic beverage of your choice. Seating in Adirondack chairs on the lawn and live entertainment provided during dinner. A cash bar with wine and beer will be available. Kids will enjoy a special Juneteenth craft.
Buy tickets online or call us to purchase at 270.450.4444
"The fact is none of us is free till we're all free!" - Opal Lee
About Dr. Brandon McCormack:
Dr. Michael Brandon McCormack is an Associate Professor of Pan-African Studies and Comparative Humanities (Religious Studies) and Director of the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research at the University of Louisville. He earned his Ph.D. in Religion in 2013 from Vanderbilt University.
His research explores the intersections between Black religion, popular culture, the arts, and activism. He teaches courses in African American religion, religions of the African diaspora, and religion and hip-hop culture. He is an inaugural Ascending Stars Fellow at the University of Louisville and an Academic Research Fellow at the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis. He is also a member of the Black Interfaith Project, a national network of academics, artists, and activists engaged in research and action around the role of Black religious and spiritual practices in movements for social justice.
His work has been published in Black Theology: An International Journal, the Journal of Africana Religions, and as book chapters in numerous scholarly journals and edited volumes, including the inaugural volume of the Morehouse College King Collection Series on Civil & Human Rights. As a recent faculty fellow at the Commonwealth Center for the Humanities and Society at the University of Louisville, his most recent research has focused on the relationships between discourses of “afro-pessimism,” “Black optimism,” and notions of “Black joy” as resistance.
